Research Proposal
Research Methods Literature Review
Natoya Wayne
The University of Arizona Global Campus
PSY635: Research Design and Methods
Dr. Kristopher Bradley
August 23, 2021
Quantitative Experimental Research Method
Posttest- only control group design
In this article about posttest-only control group design, the content explained that the researcher must make the formation of two groups, one is the control group while another one is the intervention group which receives all the proper treatments and interventions that are required by the study (Frey, B. 2018). There can be the formation of more than two study groups for this study design. A general methodology that is followed by this study design is the formation of groups, processing the treatment, and later, a collection of data after the treatment has been processed. Comparative analysis is then done among the groups and a conclusion is generated which shows that either there is any difference observed between these both groups that were made initially or not. Posttest-only control group design is a good way for the comparative analysis between two groups that are used for the study. There are certain advantages and limitations of this study design as well. The advantage of this study is no prior data collection process like it is used for other research study designs, there is a requirement of few resources only to carry out this study instead of complete data collection of people taking part in the control and intervention group. The participants are not told about the study as well because in this way they will be able to be affected by the treatment that would be given to them in the future. The limitations of this study include, although the intervention group is not told about the treatment, yet it is easy to rule out the difference between the control and intervention groups. It becomes tough to explain the study later as the proper data collection strategies were not followed in this group design study. Another limitation includes maturation threat, which involves changes in people psychologically, emotionally, mentally, and physically with the period till the continual of study. If there is the formation of more than two groups there are chances of various limitations regarding social interactions that would be imposed on these groups. Another limitation of using multiple groups is the diffusion of treatment that can happen when the participants of the control group receive the interventions from the participants of the intervention group, directly or through any other way. One of the major limitations of this study is when the participants of the control group get to know about the interventions and specific treatment given to other group participants. As a result, they will get demoralized and due to the un-equalization of treatment given to both groups.
Posttest-only control group research design could be useful to study employment issues mentally disabled veterans face by studying the differences of mentally disabled veterans who receive treatment and intervention and the ones who did not to really evaluate the root causes of their employment issues; but this research design has too many ethical risks. Utilizing mentally disabled veterans for human experimental research is a slippery slope due to the sensitive nature of many of their conditions. Some may not be able to give proper informed consent.
Qualitative Research Method
Ethnography Design
In this article about Ethnography design, the content defined that ethnography is a very different way of studying and doing research on any given topic and for this approach, it is also said that the cookbook way of analyzing a collection of data and processing is not acceptable for an ethnographic way of studying (Buscatto, M.2018). For this research methodology, ethnographic data is collected through a hypothetic-deductive model and proper understanding is required while formulating the case. The researchers must ensure that they would not be caught up or may not raise any kind of conflict during the studying process. In this kind of study whole community is involved while there is no guarantee that they would be preconceptions or any kind of assumptions as it was considered that there are great effects of past experiences, cultural orientation, and personality on the researchers carrying on that research while living in a community (Buscatto, M.2018). While starting this research various things should be kept in mind and that includes, ethnographer must wonder and decide to the topic on which he/she wants to do research and it also includes basic target questions and a hypothesis which he/she will need to study while observing his specific target no matter from which organization it belongs. There will be a requirement to collect all the data and questions that arise related to any specific activity which has been done by the subject as ethnographers also describe that the society is developed from these individuals. While carrying out this research initially there is a requirement of the plan and the target questions according to which the data is collected and after the collection of data, the most appropriate hypothesis is developed regarding the data. This provides an insight into the researcher's school of thought as he/she tries to analyze the work through his observational strategies over time. Once the hypothesis is finely tuned, the ethnographers focus on the specific situations which will help in the confirmation of their studies. This observation takes some time. The next step is using various approaches while studying ethnography and this includes counting, measuring, triangulation, saturation, etc. these approaches are used for data analysis. Comparative analysis is done for the differences present in the study if it involves a comparison group as result interpretive possibilities are seen. Once the answers to all the target questions have been gained now is the time for stopping the data collection, and if there is a question that was discovered during this research study can be used for the initiation of the new study. Saturation is the term that is effective and shows the completion of all data gathered as the result of the study.
The limitation of this study is that it does not give quality results especially for the nature of a research topic of employment issues mentally disabled veterans face. This ethnography research design is also criticized for the limits for being in society. It can be damaging to the subjects on which the study is done and poses many ethical risks especially with mentally disabled veterans. No informed consent is taken from the subjects of the study which is ethically wrong as well. This research design technique may be best used for other sociology purposes but not for studying mentally disabled veterans’ issues.
Non-Experimental Research Method
Archival Design
In this article about Archival research design, the content defined this research design as the simplest method of research because it involves the study which includes a collection of data from various sources including old documents, artifacts, letters, etc. there are three approaches involved in the archival studies (Mills, A. & Mills, J. (2018). These approaches include an approach by modernists, an approach by post-modernist, and an approach by amodernist. All of these are different approaches and involve different ideas for the collection of the data from the old artifacts. According to the modernist view, the artifacts and documents that were present in the archival times can help us in locating the places that contain a maximum number of artifacts for a specific topic and the past can be studied well with the help of these artifacts (Mills, A. & Mills, J. (2018). According to postmodernists, they not only look for only artifacts but what were the complex practices that were used for the collection of these informational pieces in old times and what was the manner of perceiving it while amodernist approach focuses on understanding the relationship of humans with its environment and it also involves the approach by gaining information regarding certain practices that were used in an earlier time and how history came into being. For this study, a topic is selected in which you will need to focus on any specific person or organization. This study involves data collection from various online sources. Informational and essential clues can also be taken from old newspapers and artifacts. We must make sure that the subject of study has a well-developed archive and was internationally well known as well. It should be socioeconomically powerful so that we could be able to gather artifacts about it and the company should have several histories that will help in providing a better overview.
The archival research design can be useful especially for gathering historical data on transitional issues from the military many mentally disabled veterans face which can lead to employment issues. From all the available sources the researcher can gather history about the topic like the employment issues mentally disabled veterans face and hence the data will be accumulated perfectly. The researcher should be aware of all the influences and factors. Although the history of each veteran may be useful to help determine some of the factors that may cause employment issues; the researcher should consider the ethical risk of breach of privacy. Again, proper informed consent should be implemented, and evaluation should be done based on authenticity, representativeness, truthfulness, and credibility of the report and authenticity as well.
Mixed Research Method
Triangulation-based framework Design
In this article about triangular based framework design, the content describes that this research method involves the incorporation of various methodologies to give better research study (Turner et al., 2015). For a triangular-based framework, the main important part of the research is the decision of the research question ((Turner et al., 2015). It is crucial that the research question should be to the point and interesting and gives a deep understanding of the research requirement. It should start from questions as well which develops more interest in the study. In the next step determination of theoretical intentions is done which includes theoretical attributes and purpose. For this step, the theory is developed and tested. This theory testing is in such a way that it discusses about the simplification and accuracy of the method. After the formulation and testing of theory, the important step is then the selection of triangular process which clears the main objectives of the research they are trying to accomplish. There are three triangular processes which include convergent triangulation, holistic triangulation, and convergent holistic triangulation. For theory development the basic approach is holistic triangulation, for theory testing the approach is convergent triangulation and when we must develop the theory and attest it then the method is convergent holistic triangulation. At last, the researchers decide which method will be the best for the development of their theory, and then they will use a combination of methods for their study purposes.
The triangulation-based method design is best suitable for the research of the employment issues disable veterans face because it combines both quantitative and qualitative research methods. This will help a researcher to gather a variety of data and from different methods, factors, and analyses for the overall interpretation of the study. Some may concur that a drawback of this research design is that it lacks uniform methodology, but that can be avoided by adequately explaining the techniques and the variation methods of combining findings and results utilized for the research study.
Research question and Hypothesis
The topic I have selected for my research is “Employment Issues Amongst Mentally Disabled Veterans” as mental issues are the most rising issues and have a serious impact on society. The aim and objective of this research are to provide better opportunities to mentally disabled veterans so that they could engage themselves with decent jobs. The research question for this study is why employment issues are very common among mentally disabled veterans apart from the presence of specific organizations for them? As their main role is to keep them employed. My hypothesis for this study is due to increased modernization, negative stereotypes and stigmas about mentally disabled veterans and increased demands of jobs; many employers usually prefer younger working employees that do not have military transitional to civilian work life issues especially mentally disabled veterans who are compromised in their proper job functioning. According to Cook (2006), research studies show that many individuals which includes veterans with disabling mental disorders desires paid employment, consider themselves able to work, and strongly expresses the need for job training programs, vocational rehabilitation services, and other support services (Cook, J. A. (2006). Hence this study will help create awareness especially amongst the populace who have negative stigmas against mentally disabled veterans in civilian workplaces (Carden-Coyne, 2007). Additionally, this study will also help with available strategies for employment programs that will assist with the hiring of mentally disabled veterans by providing them with better learning skills which will increase the chances of long-term employment (Deahl et al;2011)
Research Methodology selection
For this research work, I will select the mixed research method with the triangular-based framework design as it will be helpful in the development of theory then testing it as well. This method helps in developing reasoning and suggests effective ways that how that reasoning can be answered effectively. This methodology includes a combination of various techniques which will be helpful in the continuation of my research work. After the development of the hypothesis, a theory will be developed, and subsequently, the collection of data and attestation of the theory that was proposed will be done.
References
Buscatto, M. (2018). Doing ethnography: ways and reasons. In The sage handbook of qualitative data collection (pp. 327-343). SAGE Publications Ltd,https://www-doi-org.proxy-library.ashford.edu/10.4135/9781526416070
Carden-Coyne, A. (2007). Ungrateful Bodies: Rehabilitation, Resistance and Disabled American Veterans of the First World War. European Review of History: Revue Europeenne d’histoire, 14(4), 543–565. https://doi.org/10.1080/13507480701752185
Cook, J. A. (2006). Employment barriers for persons with psychiatric disabilities: Update of a report for the president’s commission. Psychiatric Services, 57(10),1391–1405. https://doi.org/10.1176/PS.2006.57.10.1391
Deahl, M. P., Klein, S., & Alexander, D. A. (2011). The costs of conflict: Meeting the mental health needs of serving personnel and service veterans. International Review of Psychiatry, 23(2), 201–209. https://doi.org/10.3109/09540261.2011.557059
Frey, B. (2018). Posttest-Only Control Group Design. In The SAGE encyclopedia of educational research, measurement, and evaluation (Vols. 1-4). Thousand Oaks,, CA: SAGE Publications,Inc.https://dx-doi-org.proxy-library.ashford.edu/10.4135/9781506326139.n530
Mills, A. & Mills, J. (2018). Archival research. In The sage handbook of qualitative business and management research methods (pp. 32-45). SAGE Publications Ltd,https://www-doi-org.proxy-library.ashford.edu/10.4135/9781526430236
Turner, Scott & Cardinal, Laura & Burton, Richard. (2015). Research Design for Mixed Methods: A Triangulation-based Framework and Roadmap. Organizational Research Methods. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428115610808.